The National Weather Service in Riverton is warning the Bighorn Basin area of potential flash flooding starting Thursday and going through early next week.
The forecast calls for showers and thunderstorms each day. According to the service, the main hazard will be very heavy rainfall, which could cause flash flooding.
1:05pm MDT Wed 7/28: Thunderstorms have formed across western WY this afternoon. These slow-moving storms may cause localized flooding along with strong gusty winds. Take caution if enjoying the outdoors, and remember that all Tstorms have lightning as a threat. #wywx pic.twitter.com/c77gUXuBaS
— NWS Riverton (@NWSRiverton) July 28, 2021
Jack Tatum, Park County's director of homeland security, said the problem is how dry the area is currently.
"With the rain in a very quick amount of time, we could be looking at the potential for a large amount of runoff, not a lot of soaking in the water," said Tatum. "Or we could be looking at some mudslides and rockslides and some potential for flash flooding."
But he said nobody needs to panic. His department is making sure everything is ready if any action needs to be taken.
"That would be where I'd make a call to activate our folks, with our community emergency response team to assist with sandbagging," he said. "And also give our folks at the road and bridge shop a call and say that I would need some sand dropped in a certain location so that we could start filling sandbags there and get them into the right places."
Tatum said the National Weather Service will warn his department if there is any possibility of these conditions.
